When you have babies, the blissful moments of your life are filled with sleepy snuggles, fluffy heads and gummy smiles. It’s not all straightforward, of course.

But just when you’re finally starting to get the hang of parenting a baby, boom, you wake up one day and they’ve turned into a toddler.
Parenting a toddler is full of highs and lows, laughter and tears.
It’s just like parenting a baby but boy do those little people know how to keep you on your toes.

Here are 15 things that I didn’t expect about parenting a toddler:

1. The laundry
No matter how many children you have, toddlers have a clever knack of generating more laundry than the rest of the family put together.

2. They’re pretty wily
You think they’re not that smart?
Well then explain how they always know just when your back is turned so they can get away with drawing on the wall/climbing on the table/eating the remote control.

3. Their way with words
Who knew that as soon as they learnt to talk, they’d also develop a terrifying ability to be really embarrassing in public.
Cue lots of questions like, ‘Why is my bum so itchy?’

4. The mispronunciations
Speaking of embarrassing, what’s with all those words that toddlers manage to pronounce as a swear word instead?
‘Oh look mummy, it’s a cock’.
Um, I think you’ll find that’s a clock.

5. The mix-ups
Sometimes, words get all mixed up in their heads with hilarious results like calling toilet paper sellotape.

7. Their sense of humour can be incredible for someone so small.
My little one has just started doing impressions of family members with hilarious accuracy.

8. Their appetite
Honestly, some days my two-year-old eats more than me.
Other days, he eats almost nothing.
I have no clue why.

9. Eating vegetables
Pride yourself on your kid loving broccoli one day and they’re guaranteed to refuse to eat it for the next six months.
Check out sneakyveg.com if you’re looking for family meal inspirations.

10. Crazy stunts
Those first steps are just adorable – with lovely wobbly legs and an over-sized nappy-covered bottom. But then you blink and they’ve moved on to leaping off the sofa onto a cushion (hopefully, anyway) kamikaze style.

11. How much something small can affect them
A bumped bottom after going down the slide a little too fast can mean complete refusal to even go near a slide for six months.

12. How much energy they have first thing in the morning
What do you mean it’s only 5am? I want to ride on your back like a pony!

13. Potty training
The sheer pride you’ll feel at that first poo in a potty.

14. Personal injury
Whether it’s being whacked with a toy truck or an unintentional head butt, parenting a toddler is fraught with danger.

15. Their sudden independence
Toddlers are independent little souls and they often want to do everything themselves. This ranges from feeding themselves dinner to taking a nappy off and putting it in the bin.